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Re: SPAIN 2017 - Manel Navarro - Do It for Your Lover

My review of "Do It For Your Lover":

-Spain has gotten awful results this decade that it's almost depressing, but their entries haven't been exactly brilliant, so I guess it's not surprising. The only Spanish entries I've really liked since I started following the contest are "Algo Pequeñito" (2010) and "Amanecer" (2015), whose final placing I've been genuinely disappointed about. The rest wavered between cliché Spanish-sounding pop tunes and uninteresting ballads I didn't care about, only "Say Yay!" remains a question mark to me: the staging sucked monkey balls, yet I feel the song was impactful and professional enough to deserve a higher placing imo (even though it was in English). I never follow the Spanish NF, so although I heard about the umpteenth scandal of TVE, I won't talk too much about it. I simply didn't get the point of organizing a NF if Manel Navarro was their pick right from the start (apart from making money off of Spanish viewers), if his record company indeed planned to pay for everything, then an internal selection was the way to go. The drama that occurred was karma. I'm against rigged competitions, but if one wants to hold one, then make sure the final pick is worth it, because honestly, whoever works at Sony, they must have been delusional to think for a hot second "Do It For Your Lover" would actually go somewhere in Eurovision... The song is a summery feel-good tune made up of organic instruments and simple arrangements: it started with an acoustic guitar and some slight percussions, the beginning when Manel sang wasn't that bad, but the chorus (which is unfortunately in English...) very quickly came and destroyed any kind of potential the beginning might have had: it sounded cheap and un-catchy imo, the vocal gimmicks were annoying as hell and not even melodious. The second verse was pretty much similar to the first one (with a bass line). After the second chorus, there was an extended part of "Do It For Your Lover" lines (as if there weren't enough already) and a high note, which was unnecessary, followed by another chorus... There isn't much to say about this song on a musical level because, while I do see where they wanted to take us, the final product sounds like nothing: it's linear (no twist or build-up), very repetitive (which makes it annoying to listen to entirely) and overly simple/low-budget arrangement-wise. The lyrics tell nothing, the English lines are pointless and the melody isn't even special. Pros: none. Cons: cheap, boring, annoying, cringeworthy, and all their synonyms.

There is no highlight in this song to me (as the whole track is evenly dire), yet I would say the first 25 seconds aren't that bad for what they are.

-Vocally, Manel isn't really a vocalist, I assume. During events, rehearsals and stuff, he managed to perform the song (which isn't that demanding vocally to begin with, let's be real), but obviously karma made him give his worst performance on the night that counted. Not that he would have been able to elevate the song live or reduce the likelihood of coming last, but still his performance was really underwhelming and the failed high note was highly noticeable and tragic. Easily, the worst performance of the grand final this year to me.

-Ironically, while the song may be one of the worst Spanish entries to me, the visuals were certainly the best Spain ever had. I heard they spent quite a lot of money on that and hired the man who staged "Calm After The Storm" if I remember correctly. As much as I dislike the song, I think they did a great job at translating its atmosphere into visuals: it began with Manel and his friends all lined up watching a blue-ish/purple-ish grey starry sky (which happened to be a stylized version of the Earth) from an exotic island landscape on screen while the floor displayed what seemed to be sand. When the chorus started, it became colourful with a red van, parasols, yellow sand, palm trees and sunset in orange, white and black. Then animated characters were surfing on a sea in various colours, before the beaches and sunshades reappeared. Birds, surfboards and unseen colours (like blue, purple and blue-green) followed. My favourite part is when the floor brought each people on stage a coloured surfboard on water (that looked more like swimming pool water than sea water, but anyway ), it was really cool imo. At this point, I didn't pay attention to what was happening on stage tbh, there was enough distraction for me elsewhere. Manel wore a casual outfit: blue jeans and a black shirt with hibiscus flowers on it (to fit the theme obviously). Surprisingly, I enjoyed the visuals a lot: yes it was almost cartoony, naive and it could have come from a Hawaiian commercial, yet I feel it provided the song with the colourfulness and bubbliness it needed. A+ for the staging, Spaniards did everything they could in this department imo.

-Results-wise, well... the last place was expected from the very beginning. And I have to say that - given the song and performance - it was totally deserved imo. Still Manel managed to snatch five points from Portugal, I don't know if they were trolling or if they felt sorry for their neighbour, but five points were more than they deserved imo. Very often Spain has weak songs, but this year, they weren't even trying. I mean they was trying to be last (and seeing Portugal win in the meantime was iconic). Anyway, I agree with juries on that one, too bad Germany, Australia and Austria did worse with televoters. In my personal ranking, "Do It For Your Lover" is my official 43rd place (out of 43), God knows there are other songs I didn't like this year, but it is THAT bad to me. Don't get it twisted though: I thought the Spanish NF was (as always) very weak and nothing would have been successful in Eurovision, my pick would have been "Ouch!" by Leklein, even though I dislike the fact it was in English. As for Mirela, she should have won because she was first with televoters and - due to the tie - the fairest thing to do would have been to re-open the voting lines or let the viewers' choice prevail (people paid to vote). However, she would have been a second Lucia Perez and I highly doubt she would have escaped the bottom 2 with a song that seemed pretty familiar coming from Spain. Anyway, it hurts me to see Spain have such a bad approach while the country is full of talented people with interesting songs. Hopefully, this debacle will be seen as a wake-up call for TVE (as the drama seemed pretty big this time), please guys stop making fools of yourselves and up your game for the sake of your neighbour, you aren't entitled to send another no-hoper in Lisbon, just saying! Nos vemos el próximo año, cruzo los dedos para una buena sorpresa

Re: SPAIN 2017 - Manel Navarro - Do It for Your Lover

Originally Posted by tuorem

The only Spanish entries I've really liked since I started following the contest are "Algo Pequeñito" (2010) and "Amanecer" (2015), whose final placing I've been genuinely disappointed about. The rest wavered between cliché Spanish-sounding pop tunes and uninteresting ballads I didn't care about, only "Say Yay!" remains a question mark to me: the staging sucked monkey balls, yet I feel the song was impactful and professional enough to deserve a higher placing imo (even though it was in English).

As for this song, I pretty much agree with the review above, except that I don't have the heart to be as critical as the tune may very well deserve... I guess it's because while it's definitely not a ESC material, it definitely inspires me to imagine chillin' on a nice beach on a hot summer day with cold lemonade in my hands... I'm reminded of palm trees, sunshine and summer whenever I hear this song so I'll let it pass. :3

Re: SPAIN 2017 - Manel Navarro - Do It for Your Lover

0 points.

Last place was pretty much deserved.
I am a bit sad that Spain got more points than Germany in the end, though. It would have been "nice" to get a new record... showing the guys in charge in Germany that they have to change their procedure! - I am glad we have a new format now, though.